Automatic heater for internalcombustion engines



Smut. 15, 1953 J. B. KENT EIAL AUTOMATIC HEATER FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed July 17, 1950 JOHN. B KENT CL/IEE/YCE c. z/m/vfemsw Patented Sept. 15, 1953 AUTOMATIC HEATER FOR INTERNAL- COMBUSTION ENGINES John B. Kent, Hoey, Saskatchewan, and Clarence (l. Zimmerman,Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada Application July 17, 1950, Serial No. 174,218

Our invention relates to internal combustion engine heaters, particularly to an automatic heater for internal combustion engines, an object of which is to provide a device of the character herewithin described. which will prevent excessive chilling of internal combustion engines installed in vehicles which are exposed to cold weather conditions.

A further object of our invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described, which is self-contained and requires no external source of energy in contrast with conventional electric heaters.

A still further object of our invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is indirect in operation, since it heats and circulates the engine coolant throu out the coolant passages in the engine block, thus ensuring thorough distribution of the heat.

Another object of our invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described, which is fully automatic in operation, thus requiring adjustment for desired temperature only and, of course, the maintenance of adequate fuel supply, but without necessity for further attention.

A still further object of our invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described, the operation of which is fully automatic inasmuch as the device starts and stops depending upon the position of the thermostats.

Yet another object of our invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described, which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and install and which is otherwise very well suited to purposes for which it is intended.

With the foregoing objects in view, and such other objects and advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of our invention fragmented in part to expose the interior arrangement of elements.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic representation of the electric circuit which controls our automatic heater for internal combustion engines.

Figure 3 is an enlarged elevation of a detail of our invention showing the snuffer and its associated leverage system, together with the contactor which is integral with said leverage system. Figure 4 is a diagrammatic representation of the vibrating coil unit.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures. The conventional operative engine coolant 5 Claims. (Cl. 123142.5)- I heater depends normally upon an external source of electrical energy and usually takes the form of an immersion heater, the operation of which is controlled by a manual switch. While this may normally be satisfactory during periods of extreme cold weather when the heater can be left on vall night, it is extremely inconvenient under many circumstances particularly when the outside temperature requires the heater to be switched on a few hours before starting.

Furthermore, the average automobile is not always operated or parked adjacent a convenient source of electrical energy and, consequently, the normal heater is useless.

The heater hereinafter to be described has been designed specifically to be self-contained, requiring no external source of electrical energy for the operation thereof, the only electrical energy required being supplied from the car battery. Also the thermostatic control incorporated therein governs the coolant temperature at which the device commences to operate and ceases to 0D- erate.

Proceeding now to describe our invention in detail, it will be seen upon reference to the accompanying drawing that we have provided thin-walled, tri-chambered structure I, contains, and serves as a mount for all the various elements of our invention which are described hereinbelow. The largest of the three chambers 2 is i the present embodiment, rectangular, and is situated at the base, being designed to act as the fuel reservoir. In the upper surface 3 of this reservoir, a wick tube 4, communicates between the interior of the reservoir, and the mid-Section 5. Said wick tube comprises a cylindrical, tubular nipple 4 with a collar 6 by means of Which it is fixed to the upper surface 3 of the reservoir. Freely and slidably retained within the interior of said wick tube is a wick of conventional circular section. Associated with, and mounted upon the wick tube collar 6, a snuffer mechanism 1 has been provided which will hereinafter be described in detail.

An igniter 8 is mounted upon the upper surface 3 of our fuel reservoir, and positioned so that the firing end thereof is adjacent to protruding end 9 of the wick. The ign'iter 8 comprises a high tension automotive spark plug which is supported upon an angle bracket iii. Said angle bracket is attached by rivet, or other similar means to the upper surface 3 of the fuel reservoir 2.

The third or uppermost chamber, referring to the three-chambered structure which is the container and case of our heater, is a fluid reservoir H. This fluid reservoir is linked in series with the coolant system of the internal combustion engine when our heater is installed. Water, or other coolant fluid, from the cooling system of the engine enters our fluid reservoir ll through inlet tube I2, which comprises a length of tubing of circular section connected to the coolant cir culatory system of the engine by a conventional hose or other similar coupling (not illustrated). Said inlet tube I2 is formed into a flat, horizontal spiral I3 or other similar labyrinth so disposed that the greatest possible surface is presented over the area played upon by the flame emanating from the protruding wick end 9. The said inlet tube I2 upon completion of the labyrinth enters the lower surface of the fluid chamber II through discharge orifice I4 said entrance being a water-tight joint. An outlet tube I5 provides a hose coupling point for the completion of the coolant circuit, returning the fluid to the engine. Said outlet tube comprises a nipple fitted into an aperture provided for'this purpose in the upper portion of fluid chamber II. Within the said fluid chamber I I, and remote from inlet aperture I 4, a bellows type thermostat IE is mounted, so as to be immersed in the coolant fluid, and responsive to temperature changes thereof. A lever arm I? operable by said bellows thermostat and conventionally secured thereto, projects through the wall of coolant tank II. The said lever arm is slidably mounted in fluid proof bushing I8, which reinforces the aperture through the coolant tank wall and is capable of limited endwise movement therein due to the action of bellows I6.

The other outer end of lever arm I1 is rigidly connected to rocker arm I9, which serves a dual purpose. Essentially, said rocker arm I9 is an elongated bar of rectangular section, apertured at, or near, its mid-point to receive hinge pin 29. A bracket 2| which is secured to the coolant tank wall by means of rivets 22 is equipped with two trunnion standards, in which the aforementioned hinge pin 28 is secured. At the end beyond the junction with lever arm H, the said rocker arm terminates in a contactor 2-3. This makes contact with a corresponding, and opposed contactor 24, electrically connected to a conductor 25, which is, in turn, fixed to the tank wall by means of a clip 26 riveted to the said tank wall.

The opposite end I 9' of said rocker arm I9, is equipped with an apertured fork end 21, said aperture being provided to receive hinge pin 28.

A push rod 29 taking the form of an elongated rod of cylindrical configuration is provided with an internally screw-threaded outboard end. Into this an eye-end 30 is threaded, which hinges about (and is attached thereby) the aforementioned hinge pin 28. This said threaded attach-- ment allows adjustment to be made in the effective length of push rod 29.

The opposite, or inboard end of said push rod is provided with a link end 3| h'ingeably engaged with an eye bracket 32, which is riveted to snuffer I to which reference was made hereinbefore. The aforementioned push rod 29 operates as a reciprocating rod, through a bearing aperture 33 in the outer tank shell between the coolant and fuel reservoirs. Thus, the snuffer I is responsive to, and is actuated by, bellows thermostat I6 through the system of rocker arm I9 and push rod 29 and in at least one of the claims appended hereto the bellows, snufier, and rocker arm system is referred to as a thermostatically operated snufier assembly.

To assist the aforesaid bellows thermostat in its effort to operate, snuffer I, the latter is provided with a tension spring 34, hooked through a pierced lug 35 which is a protuberance upon the surface of the snuffer. The other spring end is likewise hooked to a similar pierced lug 36, in

the form of a protuberance on the upper surface 3 of the fuel reservoir.

In addition to the bellows type thermostat I6 hereinbefore described, a secondary quick acting coil type thermostat 3? is provided. This thermostat is located adjacent to the aforesaid wick V mostatic element causes a rotating moment to be induced in said torque rod. After pressing through the side wall I of the outer shell through a bearing aperture 39 provided for this purpose, the said rod projects a short distance and is then angulated so as to extend in a vertical plane and thus perpendicular to the torque rod. This, short, right-angled extension 38' of the torque rod, serves as a contactor 4D to meet with an opposing contactor 4|. This latter contactor is a cylindrical, short length of rod which is electrically connected to a conductor 42 and is mounted upon an insulated receptacle which is suitably fixed to but electrically insulated from the side wall I of the tank shell.

The aforementioned conductor 42 is clipped to the side wall I of the tank shell, by means of a conventional clip 43 which is riveted or otherwise secured to said side wall and extends to a binding post 44 on a conventional high tension vibrating inductance coil 45 which is supported upon the side wall I of the tank shell by means of two brackets 45. The two other binding posts 4? and 48 upon the inductance coil are connected by means of conductors 41 and 48 to the source of electrical energy in the form of a storage battery 49 and the aforementioned spark plug 8 respectively. The conductors are secured to the shell I of our tri-chambered structure by means of suitably disposed clips 43.

Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings shows schematically the details of the vibrating inductance coil 45 which comprises a solenoid core 49 having a primary winding 50 wound thereon, one end of which communicates with binding post 41 and with conductor 41. The opposite end 5| of the primary winding 50 is connected to a vibrating blade contact 52, the distal end of which is situated adjacent one end of the solenoid 49. An adjustable contact terminal 53 is situated upon the opposite side of blade 52 and is connected to binding post 44 and conductors 42.

A secondary winding 54 is superimposed around solenoid 49', one end of said winding being connected to binding post 44 and the other end to binding post 48. The latter binding post carries the high tension'current to the spark plug 8 via conductor 48' as hereinbefore described.

From the foregoing, in conjunction with Figures 2 and 4, it will be appreciated that when the primary circuit is completed, the solenoid 49' attracts the blade 52 thereby breaking the primary circuit and causing the magnetic field induced thereby to collapse thus inducing a high tension surge in the secondary circuit which causes a spark in the spark plug. As soon as the primary circuit is broken the resiliency of the blade 52 remakes the primary circuit and the cycle is repeated in a vibratory fashion thus causing a continuous series of high tension sparks at the spark plug.

In operation, the cycle of events will be traced assuming that the device is in the inoperative position and the coolant approaching the lowermost temperature desired. Under these conditions, the secondary thermostat 31 will have closed the contacts 40 and 4| thus completing the ground side of the circuit from the inductance coil. However, contacts 23 and 24 will still be open thus causing an incomplete circuit from the ground side of the battery. However, as the temperature of the coolant drops, the primary bellows thermostat l5 contracts thereby moving the snuifer 1 away from the wick 9 and at the same time, closing contacts 23 and 25 which cornpletes the circuit.

The moment these contacts close, the vibrating inductance coil operates and causes continuous intermediate sparking to occur at the spark plug 8 which ignites fuel vibrating from wick 3. This impinges upon the spiral portion 13 of the inlet tube 12 thereby raising the temperature of the coolant therein which thus starts a thermosiphon action throughout the entire coolant body.

The radiation of heat from wick 9 acts almost immediately upon the quick acting thermostat 37 thus revolving the torque rod 38 and separating the contacts it and tl thereby breaking the portion of the circuit concerned with the vibrating coil 45 which ceases to operate.

As the temperature of the coolant in the system rises towards the uppermost desired limit, the primary bellows thermostat it expands and breaks initially contacts 23 and 2t and gradually causes the snuifer to shroud the Wick 9 finally extinguishing same when the uppermost temperature is reached.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the secondary thermostat 37 is concerned with the cutting-out of the spark plug after the wick 9 has been ignited whereas the primary bellows thermostat it controls the temperature range of the coolant by actuating the snuffer I.

In conclusion, it is desired to emphasize the fact that the entire unit may be housed under the hood of the vehicle in any convenient location and that it functions automatically and independently of any external electrical source.

Since various modifications can be made in our invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without departing from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. A heater for the coolant of automotive internal combustion engines and the like, comprising in combination, a coolant reservoir adapted to be connected with the coolant system of an associated engine, an outlet tube communicating with said reservoir, an inlet tube also communicating with said reservoir, a source of heat adjacent said inlet tube, said source of heat comprising a fuel reservoir, and a capillary action wick unit extending upwardly from said fuel reservoir, means to ignite said wick to form a flame or source of heat thereon, and a thermostatically operated snufier assembly for extinguishing the flame or source of heat of the wick.

2. A heater for the coolant of automotive internal combustion engines and the like, comprising in combination, a coolant reservoir adapted to be connected with the coolant system of an associated engine, an outlet tube communicating with said reservoir, an inlet tube also communicating with said reservoir, a source of heat adjacent said inlet tube, said source of heat comprising a fuel reservoir, and a capillary action wick unit extending upwardly from said fuel reservoir, means to ignite said wick to form a flame or source of heat thereon, and a thermostatically operated snuffer assembly for extinguishing the flame or source of heat of the wick, said snuffer assembly including a thermostat situated to be acted upon by the temperature of said coolant, a rocker arm actuated by said thermostat, a push rod pivctally connected to one end of said rocker arm and a p voted snuffer connected to said push rod, said sn 1 being mounted for limited radial movement adjacent said wick so as to cover and uncover same thereby extinguishing the flame or source of heat of the wick.

1'}, heater for the coolant of automotive internal combustion engines and the like, comprising in combination, a coolant reservoir adapted to be connected with the coolant system of an associated engine, an outlet tube communicating with said reservoir, an inlet tube also communicating with said reservoir, a source of heat adjacent said inlet tube, said source of heat comprising a fuel reservoir, and a capillary action wick unit extending upwardly from said fuel reservoir, means to ignite said wick to form a flame or source of heat thereon, said means including a high tension spark plug adjacent said wick, a high tension vibrating inductance coil for actuating said spark plug and a thermostatically operated snufier assembly for extinguishing the source of heat or flame of the wick.

4. The device according to ciaim 3 which includes a secondary quick acting thermostat situated adjacent said source of heat, said thermostat controlling the operation of said inductance coil.

5. A heater for the coolant of automotive internal combustion engines and the like, comprising in combination, a coolant reservoir adapted to be connected with the coolant system of an associated engine, an outlet tube communicating with said reservoir, an inlet tube also communicating with said reservoir, a source of heat adjacent said inlet tube, said source of heat comprising a fuel reservoir, and a capillary action wick unit extending upwardly from said fuel reservoir, means to ignite said Wick and form a source of heat, said means including a high tension spark plug adjacent said wick, a high tension vibrating inductance coil for actuating said spark plug, thermostatic means to extinguish said source of heat, and a secondary quick acting thermostat situated adjacent said source of heat, said last mentioned thermostat controlling the operation of said inductance coil.

JOHN B. KENT. CLARENCE C. ZIMMERMAN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,258,068 Wetzler Mar. 5, 1918 1,337,555 Harris Apr. 20, 1920 1,412,325 Wiederwax Apr. 11, 1922 1,427,059 Bridgeford et a1. Aug. 22, 1922 1,529,906 Morris Mar. 17, 1925 1,613,347 Ermatinger Jan. 4, 1927 1,857,767 Rentz May 10, 1932 2,046,812 Danuser et a1 July 7, 1936 2,074,168 Danuser et al Mar. 16, 1937 2,257,755 Morici et a1 Oct, 7, 1941 

